Art of making painted shade material



'J. P. WHITMORE.

ART OF MAKING PAINTED SHADE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6. 191-9.

1,341,956, PatentedJuneLl920.

In velzton' Jbizn PM/rmare 13 mp /Mm M447 4+ JOHN P. WHITMORE, OF SOUTH PASADENA, CALIFORNIA.

ART OF MAKING PAINTED SHADE MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1920.

Application filed amber c, 1919. Serial No. 328,723.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. WHITMORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Pasadena, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Art of Making Painted Shade Material, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of painted shade material for window shades, and particularly to the production of shade material of paper coated with suitable opaque paint such as is shown in United States Letters Patent N 0. 1,322,855, issued to me November 25th, 1919, and the main object of the present invention is to provide for rapid and economical manufacture of such paper window shade material in continuous lengths or rolls.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an apparatus suitable for carrying out my invention, and referring thereto Figure 1 is a vertical section of such apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3--3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a partial elevation of the brushing means.

The apparatus shown in the drawing comprises means 1 for rotatably supporting a roll a of paper suitable for forming the body of the shade material, guide rollers 2, 3, 4L and 5 over which said. paper is guided from said roll into a tank 6 containing a suitable paint and means for drawing the paper from said tank and maintaining it exposed to the air and under suitable tension in such manner as to insure drying of the paint and delivery of the paper in a smooth uniform roll. For this purpose I prefer to provide a drying tower 7 extending above paint tank 6 and having a feed roller 8 in its upper portion, over which the paper sheet or strip Z2 passes, said strip passing under a roller 9 immersed in tank 6 and then upwardly through a vertical casing 10 and over roller 8, and then down to a suitable winding up roller or drum 11. The height of tower 7 should be suflicient to permit the paper to become substantially dry by the time it reaches the roller 11. To assist in such drying operation, a draft or current of air may be maintained in casing 10 by blower 12, having nozzles 13 discharging air upwardly on each side of the strip 6 of paper. Suitable means such as doctor strips or blades 14 and 15 are provided for removing excess paint from the] paper sheet, said means extending on opposite sides of the sheet directly above tank 6 and being preferably off-set so as to slightly overlap and produce a tension on the sheet. Brushes 16 and 17 are provided above the doctor blades on opposite sides of sheet I) to smooth ofl the coating of paint, said brushes being referably inclined reversely, as shown. Suitable means, such as motor 19 having driving connections 20 and 21 is provided for rotating feed roller 8 and winding up roller 11, the connection to roller 11 being by slip belt or other slip connection to provide for the gradual increase in diameter of the roll as the paper is wound up on it.

In order to enable feed roller 8 to feed paper sheet 6 it is necessary to provide a pressure, and to prevent this I provide a dead-sheet or parting strip 27 supplied from a roll 29 and passing between sheet 5 and roller 8, and a similar sheet or strip 28 supplied from a roll 30 and passing between sheet and nip roller 25, said sheets 27 and 28 passing eventually to receiving means such as receptacles 32 and 33 in which they are folded or otherwise stored in condition for re-use. The parting strips 27 and 28 may be only as wide as the nip roller 25, which may extend over only the middle portion of paper sheet 6' and roller 8. A bufling roller 23 rotated by any suitable means, may be provided for keeping roller 8 clean.

In case the apparatus is used for making paper shade material reinforced at the edges, I may provide a tape feeding device at each edge of the paper sheet 6, comprisand pass between sheet I) and each of the tapes 0. My process may be carried out in the above described apparatus as follows 2-- The paper sheet I) is drawn from roll a over guide rollers 2 to 5 and under roller 9 in tank 6, and then up through casing 10 and over feed roller 8 and then down to the winding up roll 11. In passing through tank 6 the sheet Z) becomes coated on both sides withropaque paint, taken up from. a body of paint indicated at g in said tank, the excess of paint being scraped off by the doctor blades 14; and 15 and smoothed off by brushes 16 and 17 In passing up through casing 10. the paint becomes fairly dry, and in passing over the feed roller 8 and between said roller and the nip roller 25, it is separated from said rollers by the dead sheets or parting strips 27 and 28respectively, so that the paint does not offset on to said rollers, and the coat of paint is maintained in smooth uniform condition.

In case the reinforcing tapes are to be applied to the shade material, said tapes are drawn along with said material, after being moistened, and are pressed down on the shade material to adhere to same, the coating of paint being applied over said reinforcing tapes in obvious manner. The reinforcing threads 6 are applied at the same 7 time and are held in place by the gum that holds the paper tapes 0 in position.

In some cases, particularly when glazed paper, is used for the parting strips 27 and 28, it is desirable to slightly moisten feed roller 8, for example by a wick 39 supplied with water by'a pipe 40, so as to increase the grip of said roller on the paper.

What. I claim is 1. The method of making shade material which consists in applying a coat of paint to each side of a continuous sheet, removingsurplus paint therefrom, subjecting the sheet to a drying operation, passing said sheet between moving surfaces exerting pressure on same to feed the sheet forward, and passing a parting strip between said sheet and each of said moving surfaces to prevent offsetting of paint from said sheet onto said surfaces.

2. In an apparatus for painting shade material, means for supplying a continuous sheet, means for applying paint to both sides of said sheet, means for removlng surplus paint, a feed roller and presser,roller adapted to engage the sheet to draw the same forward, said rollers being. sufficiently 4:. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3 I and comprising in addition, means for feedin a reinforcing filament between said sheet and said tape.

5. In an apparatus for painting shade material, means for supplying a continuous sheet, means for applying paint to said sheet, a feed roller spaced sufficiently from the paint applying means to permit of dry ing of the paint before the sheet passes to the feed roller and a presser roller adapted to press the sheet against the feed roller so as to cause the feed roller to draw the sheet forward, and means for feeding a parting strip between said sheet and said presser roller. V

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 23rd day of Sep- 

